Biography:

Dr Babalakin is the senior partner of Babalakin & Co. He attended the University of Lagos, Nigeria, where he obtained an LLB (Hons), finishing in the top 3 per cent of his graduating class. Thereafter, he proceeded to the University of Cambridge, where he obtained an LLM and completed his PhD. During this period, he was a Commonwealth scholar at the University of Cambridge between 1984 to 1986. Dr Babalakin was admitted to the Nigerian Bar in 1982 and was conferred with the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (equivalent of Queens Counsel) in 2002.

Dr Babalakin has considerable experience in banking, project finance, private equity, insolvency, real estate law and infrastructure, litigation and arbitration. He has successfully led significant debt restructuring and refinancing negotiations in respect of very high debt profiles and has conceived of, negotiated, and participated in the documentation of very key transactions in the Nigerian economy. He has conducted trials and appeals at all levels of litigation, from the courts of first instance to the Supreme Court in matters of significant constitutional national importance and equally in commercial transactions that cut across the entire gamut of Nigeria’s economy.

Dr Babalakin has held a number of very important positions at federal and state government level in various sectors of the economy. He has served as a member of the Body of Benchers, the highest legal body regulating the affairs of Legal Practitioners in Nigeria, for a period of time. He has also served as honorary special adviser on legal matters and general counsel to former presidents of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and late Alhaji Musa Yar’dua. He served as chairman of the constitutional drafting committee of the National Political Reforms Conference between 2005 and 2008. Between 2009 and 2013 he served as pro-chancellor of the University of Maiduguri and chairman of the Committee of the Pro-Chancellors of Nigerian Federal Universities; and in 2017 he was appointed by the federal government as pro-chancellor and chairman of the governing council of the University of Lagos. He is currently chairman of the Federal Government/University-Based Unions Agreement Renegotiation Committee. In February 2008, he was conferred with the National Honour of Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR).

WWL says:Bolanle Olawale Babalakin SAN is a prominent litigator with a superb understanding of all aspects of real estate and construction law.

This biography is an extract from Who's Who Legal: Nigeria which can be purchased from our Shop.

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